Toddler teeth brushing - Tackling your tot ?!

Toddler teeth brushing – tackling your tot ?!

  Trying to tackle your tiny tot to scrub their little teeth can be quite the chore! No matter how tempting it is to strap them to the toilet and try to pry open their little jaws of life, it’s just not productive. So relax! Take a breath! The idea is to get them to like brushing their teeth and develop good dental habits, not cause a phobia for life.

First I have to say the most important thing to do is offer your child a healthy diet.  Have your little pearly whiter drink more water then juice. It's much more hydrating anyway! Juices can be a nice change but don’t forget to dilute them. Diluting cuts the sugar down.

Look for and avoid foods with a lot sugar and containing High Fructose Corn Syrup, this stuff is in almost everything. I was SHOCKED after I had my daughter and started really paying attention to food labels. The clincher for me was when I looked on the box of a generic brand of graham crackers that I had been feeding my daughter, its just a graham cracker right? Wrong!! The first ingredient was high fructose corn syrup and then something to make it stick together, pretty much a little square of tooth decay.

Super curious, I checked out an organic brand, it was slightly more expensive but no high fructose corn syrup and I could actually read the ingredients without chemistry's periodic table. Oh and I’m sorry but if It’s blue and not a blueberry its probably something you shouldn’t be giving to your tot or eating at all for that matter.

 Now don’t get me wrong, of course I will allow some sugary treats for fun and bargaining chips when my chewer gets older but for right now, in our house, fruit is a very suitable natural healthy sweet snack and much more appropriate dontcha think!?  Try watermelon, it’s our favorite right now!

 Sugary foods and liquids stick to plaque on teeth and begin their crusade on building cavities, eating away at healthy teeth and gums. So It’s worth your time and energy starting a good dental routine early. The American Academy of pediatric dentistry says that children should see a dentist as soon as they get their first tooth and not later then their first birthday. My little piranha will be two in August and I must admit we have yet to seek out a pediatric dentist. However, it has made it to the top of the to do list!

 I thought I’d share a few tips and ideas that we use in our house that make the nightly event of teeth brushing a more pleasant experience for all of us, and fun too!

In the beginning, we started out “brushing” the teeth by just taking a wet washcloth and wiping the little nubs and gums down. Anything to get the fur off!  Then as the teeth starting really showing up we got an Elmo toothbrush. Since our little one had recently discovered her red furry friend, it was a huge hit! We just let her chew on the bristles and did some minor intervening, introducing the back and forth, up and down movements.

Now that we have a full set of baby teeth we've added Orajel beginners toothpaste to the routine, which is fluoride free, safe to swallow and removes plaque. At age two you can will switch to a fluoride toothpaste. Look for Tom’s natural anti-cavity  ‘silly strawberry’. They have a fluoride free version too!

We also have quite the arsenal of different kinds of toothbrushes to fight the tooth fairy! We have a purple one with Dora, a green one with ladybugs, a blue one that flashes light, and the newest is one that spins. They also have toothbrushes that play a song with the idea is that the kiddos brush until the song stops! When its time to brush we let our little one choose which one she wants to use! Sometimes she wants to use all of them. I say whatever gets at least one brush in the mouth works for us!  Plus, I figure investing in several toothbrushes at this point might save me a lot of money in the future!

Pick a time that works for you! We brush during bath time and so far so good! When she’s cranky and doesn’t want to cooperate she has a little shark with teeth showing, we start by telling her to brush his teeth first! Try brushing your teeth together! We show and tell her to open wide, get the ones all the way in back, back and forth, all around and don’t forget the tongue too! Use a lot of positive reinforcement, cheer "yay, great job!" and clap too!

The most recent thing we tried when she refused to clean her chicklets was U Tube videos of other tots brushing their teeth. She couldn’t believe it! Other kids were being subjected to the same kind of torture!! I explained to her its pretty universal, a right of passage. My husband and I were pleasantly surprised when our little rebel became unexpectedly cooperative. She loved the videos!!  – We grabbed the brush and away she went! She even wanted us to play more clips! Then a trip to the sink to rinse!  

The last couple days of bath time brushing has gone smoothly! Woohoo!  The ultimate goal here is I want to help my little chomper develop good dental habits and keep her from white knuckling the dentist chair her whole life, like me. On those nights when she is determined not to clean her fangs, I have learned, instead of trying to tackle my tot that it’s okay just to let it go and try again in the morning.

Good luck and Happy Parenting!

Links to check out!

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry - http://www.aapd.org/

Orajel site – I found this recently I think its cute for slightly older kids. A weekly, morning and evening teeth brushing chart.

http://www.orajel.com/products/toddler/brush_chart.htm

U tube clips of other tots brushing their teeth – too cute!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=toddler+teeth+brushing&aq=f